Rajiv Sheth, a perfumer from Ahmedabad, was in town to introduce people to the art and science of constructing fragrances

It’s 11.30 in the morning and a group of about 15 people are busy dipping strips of paper into tiny vials filled with clear fluid. Each vial is numbered but there’s no other indication of what the contents are. Delicately lifting each strip to the nose, everyone inhales deeply before putting away the strip. There’s silence for a few seconds as each one tries to process what they’ve smelt. One tentative voice pipes up, “I smell herbs…spices.” Another woman in the group chimes in with, “Yes, it reminds of something I have eaten – maybe a leafy herb?” “It’s minty”, says another. “Medicinal” is yet another observation. Everyone looks expectantly at Rajiv Sheth, the “nose” and creative director of All Good Scents, a line of fine fragrances, who is conducting this perfumery workshop at the Urban Ladder store in Domlur. “Yes, you are all right. Obviously, you have a nose for this business! This particular facet is called Aromatic; it comes from the French word aromatique which usually denotes aromatic herbs. The components of this facet are lavender, mint, basil, thyme, rosemary, anise, eucalyptus and sage. And it’s a top note in many masculine fragrances.”

Sniff-and-tell

Sheth has just described one of 18 olfactory facets that go into the construction of a perfume. As the two-hour workshop progresses, the participants are introduced to 12 such facets through a similar sniff-and-tell process. There’s the absolutely divine Fougère with notes of lavender, geranium, vetiver, coumarine and oak moss, while Woody is a beautiful melody of cedarwood, sandalwood, patchouli, vetiver and oak moss. The intriguingly-named Gourmand, on the other hand, triggers memories of baking and vanilla with its undertones of cocoa, coffee, honey, caramel and chocolate. These facets, composed of natural extracts as well as aromatic chemicals, are all neatly placed in a box called a perfumer’s organ. Sheth has tied up with French training centre, Cinquième Sens to conduct this perfume creation workshop. A slim handbook, handed to each participant, comes with diagrams of the olfactory pyramid and information on each olfactory facet; there’s also a page for formula documentation.

A nose for business

Ahmedabad-based Sheth was in the city on the behest of Gathr, a company that promotes alternative social experiences. The entrepreneur’s love affair with perfumery began as a child watching his grandfather work. The latter had founded a family business exporting essential oils and would spend hours distilling and blending the aromatic oils. After completing his graduation (BSc) in Mumbai, Sheth enrolled for a Masters in Perfumery programme at the reputed ISIPCA institute in Versailles – an exclusive school founded in 1970 by Jean Jacques Guerlain. “Until then, no other Indian had enrolled at their institute. The entire course was conducted in French which I had to learn before joining the school,” says Sheth, who spent 12 years working in France before moving back to India to launch his brand All Good Scents in 2013. “While India has a high culture of fragrances [mainly in the form of attars and natural oils], it’s very different from the fine perfumery of France. I wanted to fill that gap with All Good Scents.” Currently, all his perfumes are manufactured in Grasse.

Hitting the right notes

Using the olfactory pyramid as a guide, Sheth encourages participants to construct three different scents based on their learnings. For instance, each of the 18 olfactory facets are categorised into top notes, middle or heart notes and base notes. At the top of the pyramid are the top notes, which typically contain the following facets – Citrus, New-freshness and Aromatic. Top notes are what you smell when you first take a whiff of a perfume. But these are weak in tenacity and fade away soon. “I always advise people not to buy a perfume after smelling it immediately. The best thing to do would be to spray it on oneself and wear it through the day to see out how it plays out.” The notes that linger the longest are the base notes (woody, spices, etc) and this is what creates the fragrance’s personality. In the middle of the pyramid are the heart notes (flowers, fruits, etc) which are more consistent than top notes and last for four-five hours.
To construct a perfume, participants are advised to choose five facets and use them in varying proportions (with a maximum of 20 drops). The formulation document in the handbook which lists all the facets is handy to make a note of how many drops per facet one plans to use in each perfume. The results are not all up to one’s expectations with some facets overpowering others but there are a few pleasant surprises as well.

A ‘memorable’ experience

Sheth reveals that whether one likes or dislikes a particular smell or scent is directly linked with something called the olfactory memory. According to Livescience.com, “the olfactory system has unique connections with two key regions in the brain’s temporal lobe: the hippocampus, which is critical for laying down new long-term memories, and the amygdala, critical for processing emotions. Unlike all the other senses (i.e., vision, touch and hearing), which require many connections – synapses – to reach the hippocampus and amygdala, olfactory information has immediate access to those systems.” This means that one easily associates each smell with a place, time, person or situation and stores it in long-term memory. As Sheth explains, “It’s part of your subconscious and that’s why a particular odour can trigger an immediate emotion and reaction.” For the participants, who walked away with their creations and new insight into the art (and science) of composing a perfume, this was definitely a base note experience – one that wasn’t likely to fade away any time soon.

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